Chronicles and Stories from Hope Valley
by Devoted hallmark fan
Summary: each chapter will be one shot short stories or journal entries focusing on one character or couple of Hope Valley Residents written from their points of view and about their lives as they have seen it.
1. Elizabeths Journal Entry

**Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton: My journey, finding myself and love**

 **Five Years later- late Oct 1915**

Before I had married my Husband Jack Thornton the towns Constable and Mountie a few months ago, I was Elizabeth Thatcher and I had arrived in Hope Valley five years ago to teach the children of the town back when it was known as Coal Valley. I had grown up in the east in a big city and had chosen to come out west to find my purpose, what I was meant to do as my true calling of being a teacher while finding myself in the process, and have become independent along the way. When I had first arrived in town I struggled, but learned a lot along the way with Abigail Stanton's help over the past five years. She quickly became one of my best friends along with most of the other women of the town. I soon learned that most of them were widows after an accident had occurred in their towns mine a few months before I came. They wanted me to make sure their children would be able to end up with better futures when they get older.

With each passing year I have spent in what has become Hope Valley, I was able to start doing things for myself, eventually found myself, became independent, and decided to stay permanently in Hope Valley and teaching the towns children who I had come to love to teach and they loved me. The town and the community of Hope Valley had become my home and I loved living here.

As the years went by, I slowly started to fall in love without even realizing it and to the new Mountie who had shown up in town just days after I did. At first things started out rocky between us, we always got annoyed with each other, eventually started to tolerate each other, and eventually fell for each other after he realized I was determined to conquer the everyday life of living out west. He came to the conclusion he was stuck with me because I would not give up and I was determined to overcome anything. I could and would do anything with grace and dignity no matter how long it took me. We had met officially when I was getting ready for the school day back when I had to teach in the saloon since we did not have a school house and he had startled me when he came down from the rooms above which also served as the towns hotel and I was unaware anyone else was in the building. The year after this I learned it was Jack who had given the money to build the school house I now teach in. We recently started being on a first name basis with each other by this point. Over the next four years we had formed and were in a relationship with each other. One day about a year and half ago before he left on an extended assignment, he unexpectedly surprised me in the most wonderful way ever with dozens of candles lighting a pathway to the school house where I taught and he proposed to me, that of which I accepted so I could become his wife as he could not imagine a future without me and I felt the same way. We got married a few weeks after he had gotten back and the ceremony was the most beautiful, breathtaking one imaginable in front of all our friends and some of our family. A week later he was called again for an assignment and I went along with him since we could not have the honeymoon we had planned weeks before. When I got back to town after leaving him at his assignment I focused on teaching my students, but I constantly worried for my husband and his safety. Right before he came back home I found out I was expecting, and in a few months we are expecting our first set of children since we are having twins. We are both so excited and overjoyed to finally be starting our own family and grow our Thornton clan as my Husband Jack likes to say and right now he is building a nice big house for us on a land plot he had brought a few years ago which has the most magnificent view I have ever seen. I can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives as we become parents

Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton


	2. Jacks Journal Entry

**Jack Thornton: How I came to be in Hope Valley and Stayed**

 **Five years later**

My name is Constable Jack Thornton and I am a Mountie. My wife's name is Elizabeth Thatcher (now Thornton) the towns school teacher. Before I had married her, I was sent to Hope Valley formally Coal valley five years ago. I was not happy when I was first sent to protect the new school teacher now my wife and on very short notice. I was originally scheduled to take a post in cape Fullerton, but that was changed at the very last minute. I later found out it was her father a very wealthy man who had requested a Mountie be sent to protect and look after his daughter. I did not know this until after I introduced myself and she had told me her name when I had walked in on her while she was preparing lessons. We were both very upset and she claimed she did not need protection from me and could take care of herself. I thought on the other hand she had no business being in a town like Coal valley (now Hope Valley). We eventually accepted our new situation. As I got to know her more after a rough start we started to get along. I was not looking to fall in love, but I did and it was with her. Since then, I have never looked back on the decision I made to court her and stay in Hope Valley after demanding a change in post which was granted then I changed my mind because of her. As the years went by I eventually asked her to marry me and become my wife as I found that I could not see a future without her in my life.

When I first started to court the school teacher, we took things slow at first then with each passing year things became more romantic and even intense with our relationship. It took me four years and enough courage to ask her to marry me after one of her close friends from back east messed things up two years before I asked. I decided to wait after that since I wanted to make my proposal as romantic as possible and at just the right time without any interference from anyone. I had planned out everything with Abigail's help before I had to leave to join a huge fight going on up north, they needed everyone they could get to go to help and I had to go. Before I went, I proposed to my now wife Elizabeth using a candle lit pathway for her to help guide her way to follow to where I was waiting in front of the school house which I had built for her and where I had decided to pop the question since it was an important spot for both of us. She was so overwhelmed with happiness that I had asked her to marry me. We got married a few months ago and a year and half after I got back from the fight up north. She was happy I had come home alive and well as she had constantly worried about me and so we could start our life and future together. I was also happy and I now look forward to becoming a father as we are expecting out first child in a few months. I have also decided it was time to finally build a house for us on a piece of land I had brought four years before. I could not have asked for a more loving and understanding wife as I have found in Elizabeth as we start our life as a family and in Hope Valley a place we both love and want to stay.

~Jack Thornton~


	3. Abigails Journal Entry

**Abigail Stanton: Turning a Dream into Reality**

 _ **Five years later**_

My name is Abigail Stanton and for the past year I have been the mayor of Hope Valley and I own the café in town as well. It was a dream of mine for a long time and I will tell you about it. I decided to open the café after my husband and only son were taken during a mine explosion five years ago and the towns new school teacher Elizabeth Thatcher now Thornton had moved in with me after she had burned down the teacher's house by accident. It was Elizabeth who had made me consider the idea to actually go forth with my dream after she had told me my baking skills were very good and she loved what I made. I really started looking into this possibility after Gowen the guy who ran the mine told me a new miners family was coming to town and he had no place to put them so I told him what I wanted to do and he agreed, but thought it would not work out, but I proved him wrong. I spent weeks fixing up the building I had found and after me and Elizabeth moved in upstairs and I gave Gowen my house so the new family would have someplace to live. One day one of the towns children came over to investigate since the smell of my baking drew him and asked if I was selling or opened yet. I said not yet, but was nice enough to give him some cookies and then he told me a long line was waiting outside. So I started selling items outside at a table. When I did officially open my doors for business and for serving the town, the business started to boom and the café became the town's favorite place to come a get a home cooked meal because I offered more than what the saloon had to offer.

As the years went on I eventually hired a partner and that was Bill Avery and I even hired my daughter in-law Clara to work for me and who still occasionally does when she is not working with Dottie Ramsey and Rosemary at the dress shop. I had learned she was my daughter in-law after she told me she had secretly married my late son peter two days before the mine disaster when he had gone on business in Cape fullerton. She had shown up at the trial after she saw the headlines in the paper in Hamilton where she was living before I persuaded her to move to Hope Valley when I went to find her to make sure she was okay after she had left after the trial but did not write to me. I was glad she had decided to return to Hope Valley with me and Elizabeth who was in Hamilton because her mother was not feeling well. Running the café and being the mayor of Hope Valley both keep me very busy as well as raising my adopted son Cody and His older sister Becky who comes home from school during breaks since she goes to a school where she excels in science after she had won the scholarship during a science fair for building a model bridge using skills her father had taught her before he passes along with their mother and she had gotten sick when I found them in the woods around Hope Valley and took them in. Both Cody and Becky also help me out in the café from time to time with the clean-up. The Café had become and will continue to be the town's favorite and only restaurant and I love that it helps me to earn a living.

-Mayor Abigail Stanton-


	4. Hope Valley and The Founders Day Play

**Hope Valley's Children and the Founders Day Play**

A mere three to four weeks after she had moved to Hope Valley, back when it was still called Coal Valley Elizabeth Thatcher now Thornton had learned that she only had a week to prepare her class to put on the towns founders day play. Elizabeth had never directed a play before and she was nervous that she would mess it up.

While Elizabeth was in the middle of having an outburst about the time frame she had to prepare her class to perform the play, Jack just at that exact moment had come over to Elizabeth to help her calm down as he said to her;

"just take a deep breath, Elizabeth you can do this, no need to worry" Jack says

"Are you sure, I never directed a play before. I went to teacher collage not drama school, Jack" Elizabeth responds

"I know, but you are smart. You will figure everything out, and I am sure the children will help you as well" Jack replies

"Thank you Jack for the support it means so much. I will try my best with helping the children with their parts in the play" Elizabeth responded.

After Jack calms her down Elizabeth starts setting up her morning lessons. As she is working on this a few of the mothers of her students offer to help her with Jobs related to the founders day play like costumes, learning the songs and music by playing the piano, getting up the backdrop etc…, which Elizabeth was thankful for as she was already overwhelmed with having to direct the play, and it would be her first time doing something like this.

Pretty soon the children arrived for the start of the school day. As the day progressed the pastor come in dragging a trunk full of charred costumes, which one of the mothers Kat Montgomery who had volunteered to help out with the music for the play was very upset about the condition of that she not even bother to ask about the backdrop which she automatically concluded had been stored in the church that had been burned down once she saw the charred costumes in the storage trunk.

Over the next few days as Elizabeth was directing her class for rehearsals during the school day she concluded she was getting the hang of it pretty quickly. She was also praising her class for all the hard work they were putting into their parts. One morning, when she had entered the saloon to prepare for class she saw a newly painted backdrop hanging up for the play that was to take place in three days. She was surprised and was wondering where it had come from since it was out of the blue kind of surprise and unexpected. When the kids arrived they too were surprised to see the backdrop as well as Mrs. Montgomery. Since she knew of no one who could paint like the person before who had painted the old backdrop, but she was glad as well as Elizabeth was that they had a backdrop for the play.

Pretty soon the day of the founders day play had arrived. Elizabeth with the help of a few of the mothers were finishing setting up chairs for the towns residences so they could enjoy the program the children of hope valley would be performing in just an hour or two. Slowly one by one the students arrived to get ready to perform the founder's day play for their family, friends, and the rest of the town of Hope Valley which is known formally as Coal Valley. After they had gotten ready, and the rest of the town had found seats the play started. Elizabeth stood backstage to single each student when it was their time to enter the stage to perform their assigned role in the play. As the play went on, the rest of the town was enjoying it a lot. Pretty soon the play was over and everyone went home after an entertaining night.

 _After the Play_

On Monday two days after the play had taken place some of the older students were busy rolling up the new backdrop to be stored for the next time when one of them noticed a little detail that had been painted and saw who it resembled. They called Elizabeth over to see for herself when she had heard and wondered what the commotion was about. She was startled at what she saw and a tad upset. She had somehow felt that she wanted Jack to know so she marched over to the Jail to tell him. As soon as she entered the jail she said to Jack;

"Jack do you know that there is a tiny painting of a likeness of us hiding in the background on the backdrop from the founders day play, and a few of my students just saw and lite the fuse because of the action the tiny people are doing in the painting" Elizabeth explains

"Really, how did that get there and exactly what action are we doing in this painting" Jack responds

" I don't know how it got there but, I…I…can't really say, but we are…K…I…SS…I…N…G" Elizabeth says as she stumbles over saying it since she finds it hard to say since they had just started a relationship with each other and were still getting to know one another.

" Kissing are you sure. Well that is indeed inappropriate" Jack replies

"yes, I am sure Jack. I don't know what else to say" Elizabeth replies

After her conversation with Jack about the painted figures of them Elizabeth marches back to the saloon to go on with the rest of the school day. She is glad she had gotten through directing her first ever play, and she thought she had done a great job but was now ready for the school days to get back to the normal schedule she had established since moving to Hope Valley back when still called Coal Valley just a few week before and starting her own life away from her family. She thought the play was a success as did the rest of the town, and she was happy they thought so. She is now thankful she had made the right decision to move to the town to teach the children who she was learning to love and enjoy teaching.


	5. Rosemarys Journal Entry

**Rosemary Leveaux Coulter: Why I came to town and how I ended up staying**

 **Five Years Later**

I came to Hope Valley back when it was Coal Valley in the hopes of getting back with my fiance Jack Thornton. I did not know he did not want to be with me anymore after I left him to pursue an acting career years earlier. I also, did not know that he was starting to fall in love with another women which I later found out and I finally accepted it. I decided to stay in town though and I was beginning to love it. I was even starting to fall for another newcomer to town myself who was a saw mill operator by the name of Lee Coulter. We started to get comfy with each other and had started a relationship.

After a while one day out of nowhere, and when I least expected it after I turned down an acting job in a movie Lee proposed to me and I accepted it. Also, I slowly started to make friends with the other women of the town as well as the new school teacher slowly, which helped me decided to stay since I enjoyed the quant town so much. At first I did not know what to do as a job, so I attempted to start an advice column in the town paper using the pen name of Mary Rose. Eventually, I ended up working as a designer for the dress shop which Dottie Ramsey opened up about a year ago along with Clara Stanton who did the sewing. At first I even took over for Elizabeth when she went out of town to visit family. I even directed and rewrote the towns founders day play after the town was renamed Hope Valley. Also, every Christmas for the past three years I started a Christmas committee and organized the holiday programs and projects for the town. I was the kind of person who loved being in charge of almost everything that included planning and events. After I married Lee Coulter, we moved next door to Elizabeth Thatcher now Thornton in the row houses which had very thin walls. I loved listening in on conversations she had with Jack since they tended to be loud and the walls were paper thin. Over the years as I got to know Elizabeth better we eventually became close friends. I enjoyed my life in Hope Valley as I look towards my future with my now husband Lee as life continued on for us and the town.

~Rosemary LeVeaux Coulter~


	6. Lee's Journal Entry

**Leland (Lee) Coulter: Bringing Jobs to Hope Valley**

My name is Leland Coulter but everyone calls me Lee. I arrived in Hope Valley about five years ago around the time the coal mining company went to trial against the widows of the town because of the safety of the mine that resulted in the explosion and cave in that resulted in the death of forty- eight men who had worked in the mine. It was Abigail Stanton who found the evidence against the company. The trial was very intense and in the end the widows won. The end of the trail resulted in the mine being closed permanently so the men were without Jobs. I Lee Coulter had a plan though to turn the town around and to bring jobs to the town for the men to have.

Prior to the trial I had surveyed the land outside of town to find the perfect place to build my sawmill I planned on bringing to town. I gave the remaining men in town first dibs on jobs working for me once the mill was up and running. I even offered to train them as well. Since opening the mill the town of Hope Valley quickly became my new home, the mill was doing good and the men had stable jobs to provide for their families again. I was also falling in love and I eventually married my wife Rosemary about a year ago. After we got married we moved into the row house next to the towns school teacher Elizabeth Thatcher (now Thornton) since she just recently married the towns Mountie Jack Thornton a few months ago. I was also continuing to expand the mill as new people were showing up in town as the railroad was coming as well at the same time. My mill was supplying the railway with the wood for building of the station and other needs. The future of Hope Valley and the sawmill was looking bright and successful as life continued to go on with each passing day

~Leland (Lee) Coulter~


	7. Clara's Journal Entry

**Clara Stanton: How I came to Live in Hope Valley**

 _ **Five Years later**_

My name is Clara Stanton, and this is my story of how I came to live in Hope Valley with my new mother in-law if that is what you would consider Abigail Stanton was since I had married her son Peter a few days before. I had heard about the mine explosion while reading the paper and it was where peter worked while I lived in Cape Fullerton before moving to Hamilton after in order to earn money to pay some expensive medical bills that my father had before he passed.

I first heard about the town of Coal Valley (now Hope Valley) when a Prosecutor had tracked me down, and asked me to come to town for the coal mine trial, but I could not as I was too busy with work and could not take off. A few days later as I was walking by the train station in Hamilton the headline on the front page of the paper that someone was reading caught my eye and it seemed to be related to the trial going on in Coal Valley. It was then that I decided to make my way to the town for the trial hoping I was not too late to be a witness to help explain some of the things in relation to the incident that had happened to my late husband, his dad who I never got to meet as we were only married for a short few days before, along with 42 other men who died. As soon as I arrived in Coal Valley I asked the first person I found outside, really the only person out to ask where I could find the trial and he offered to show me where since he was headed that way as well. This gentleman's name was Mr. Coulter and he too had come to town to hear the mine trial and to see how things would turn out before he decided to build his sawmill in town and provide the men of the town with jobs. As soon as we walked into the Saloon where the trial was taking place the judge seemed kind of mad that I had interrupted his proceedings and asked if I had a good reason, which I kindly explained which lead him to think over his decision for and for the ruling to be held off until the next day after hearing me and me giving him what I had been given by Peter. The next day when me and the rest of the residents of Coal Valley returned to the saloon to hear the judge's ruling which was to close the mine permanently and forever this greatly angered Mr. Gown the man in charge of the towns mine and all the widows were awarded money as a result of Mr. Gowan's actions. The widows were all very happy with the result of the mine trial and we went to Abigail's cafe to celebrate. After the trial ended it was then that I introduced myself to Abigail, told her who I was, and how I met her son before the tragic incident.

The day after the mine trial ended I had to go back to Hamilton and had promised to write to Abigail about how I was doing since she said I was now her family even though I was only married for two days to her son before he died in the mine incident. When I got back to Hamilton, I never got the chance to write her since I got busy working all the time and kept forgetting. A few months later, Abigail shows up in town and tracks me down to convince me to return to Coal Valley which had been renamed Hope Valley to live with her and even offered me a job working in her cafe as well. I gladly accepted a few days later thanks to Mr. Bill Avery who had convinced my employer to let me off the hook working for him. The day Abigail along with Elizabeth Thatcher (now Thornton) Hope Valley's school teacher who had been in town to care for her sick mother were to return to Hope Valley I barely made it to the train station to catch the train with them back to Hope Valley. This was the start of my life over without having to work as a servant for someone else and in a town where Abigail told me everyone was like family. A few days after moving to Hope Valley I knew I would be happy here. It started out bumpy, but I soon got the hang of things. As the years went by I not only worked with Abigail in the cafe, but I also did some sewing and eventually went to work in Dottie Ramsey's dress shop she opened about a years ago. I even started falling for someone new and we started a relationship a few years ago. The man I started falling for Jesse Flynn was starting and turning his life around from being a member of an outlaw gang and now works with Lee Coulter at his sawmill. We are getting to know and learn about each other little by little, and I can't wait to see what the future will hold for me and Jesse

~ Clara Stanton~


	8. Elizabeth Learns to Ride

**Elizabeth Learns to Ride**

Elizabeth has enjoyed living in Hope Valley for the past year. It was finally summer break and Elizabeth had nothing to fill her days with so she decided she wanted to learn to ride. One day a few days after break started Elizabeth decided to seek out Jack Thornton to ask him to teach her to ride. She went to the jail where she knew she would most likely find Jack. As soon as she entered she spotted Jack filling up the wood stove with more wood to heat up some coffee. As soon as Jack looked up from filling up the wood he saw Elizabeth and said;

"Hello Elizabeth what brings you by my office this morning" Jack asks

"Well I came to ask you if you would be willing to give me some horseback riding lessons" Elizabeth responds

"I would be glad to give you riding lessons. Are you sure you want to learn to ride Elizabeth" Jack replies

"Of course Jack. Hope Valley is my home now and part of that is learning to ride" Elizabeth responds

"Good for you Elizabeth" Jack responds

After Elizabeth and Jack finish their talk they decide Jack should start to teach Elizabeth to ride starting tomorrow afternoon after Jack does his morning rounds.

 _ **Elizabeth's First Lesson**_

The day of Elizabeth's first riding lesson with Jack came, and she was so excited. Elizabeth could barely get through the morning doing some chores around the cafe for Abigail to past the time until the afternoon came. By lunchtime Elizabeth was more than ready to meet up with Jack and his horse Sargent for her first riding lesson that she practically ran down the middle of the towns street to meet up with Jack who was waiting outside the Jail with his Horse. As soon as Elizabeth reached Jack she said;

"I am ready for my first riding lesson Jack, when can we start" Elizabeth inquires

"Right now, both Sargent and I are ready if you are" Jack responds

"I am so ready. So how do I get up on Sargent here" Elizabeth replies

" Just put your leg in the stirrup and Jump on up and swing your other leg over to the other side" Jack responds

As Jack watches Elizabeth as she tries to get up into the saddle he can't help but be amused. After five minutes he helps out Elizabeth by hosting her up into the Saddle and she has a look of surprise on her face after she plops into the saddle. Jack then gets into the saddle right behind her and then tells her how to get Sargent to start moving. Once Sargent gets moving a little too fast for Elizabeth's liking she says to Jack;

"How do I get Sargent to slow down, he is going a little too fast for me" Elizabeth asks

"Just pull back on the reins a little bit to get him to slow down" Jack replies

Elizabeth does as Jack tells her and she starts to feel more confident in learning to ride. After a few hours they are finished for the day. Elizabeth continues lessons for the next week. Pretty soon after a few lessons Jack borrows a horse from the towns Livery for Elizabeth so they can ride side by side as Elizabeth continues to become a better rider on her own.

 _ **One Month Later**_

A month later Jack tells Elizabeth that she does not need lessons anymore, but she enjoys it so much that they continue to ride together almost every day for the rest of summer break from school. One day as they are riding together Jack says to Elizabeth;

"Wow, Elizabeth you have gotten so good in such a short time with riding" Jack says

"Thanks, that was my goal especially since Hope Valley has become my home and will continue to be my home" Elizabeth responds

"Really, you don't plan on ever moving back to Hamilton" Jack replies

"No, I love Hope Valley It's where I belong and I love teaching the children too much to leave them" Elizabeth responds

Jack and Elizabeth continue on their ride and Jack eventually leads her towards a piece of land he had brought to show her the beautiful scenery which she loves especially on a nice summer day they are enjoying together. They then ride back into town and go their separate ways home for the rest of the day. When she gets home Elizabeth starts planning for school which will be starting in just two weeks in the brand new school house that is almost finished which she is looking forward towards.


	9. Faith Carter Journal Entry

**Faith Carter: How I came to live in Hope Valley**

 **and Brought Medical Care forever**

 _Five Years Later_

My name is Faith Carter and I did not always live in Hope Valley. I first came to the town three years ago to take a look at a patient in place of a doctor who I worked for in Union City where I was living after I met someone. Along the way I realized I wanted to stay and I was even offered a Job to help reopen the town's infirmary. Once my fiancé found out he even came to town to persuade me to go back to Union City with him to start planning our wedding. He wanted me to quit being a nurse but I would not give in. I refused to quit and I broke the engagement off and decided to stay permanently in Hope Valley where the town's people understood how much I loved being a nurse.

As each day and month went by I became accustomed to living in the small town and community of Hope Valley. The residents soon became fast friends of mine as I got to know each one of them. After two years went by a doctor had finally arrived in town. He opened a practice in town after not practicing for two years for personal reasons. We quickly became fast friends, but were starting to start to like each other as more than friends. After another year went by people were starting to notice how their town's doctor and nurse were acting when in the same room with each other during events. I could not wait to see what the future holds for me and for the rest of Hope Valley.

Sincerely,

~Nurse Faith Carter~


End file.
